Desktop build for gaming £500 budget (UK)

[MightyJellyFish]

Hello again. I posted 3 months ago but I wasn't buying then. I am now buying parts this week.

Q1. Are you building this computer yourself or having one built for you (Like HP, Alienware, or even a small shop)?

A1. I'm Getting it build in a small shop called RapidPCs (so I'm probably buying parts from them if not probably Amazon.co.uk)

Q2. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?

A2. Less than £500 including tax and shipping.

Q3. Where do you live (Please list town, state, and country)?

A3. Wareham, Dorset, England

Q4. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?

A4. Mostly gaming but also designer programs like Sculptris making 3D models etc.

Q5. What parts will you need for the computer? List what parts specifically, saying you need everything will not do.

A5. CPU, MotherBoard, 8G RAM, GPU, Hard drive, (maybe SSD), Case, DVD and CD drive, PSU and Monitor. All that good stuff.

Q6. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so say what parts (make and model).

A6. Not reusing any parts this time.

Q7. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?

A7. 1280 x 1024 or above, not too fussed really.

Q8. Do you have already have a OS or do you need one? What OS is that?

A8. I've got windows 7 64 bit

Q9. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.

A9. Don't know much about Motherboards so sorry if I just say a load of garbage. I'm not a fan of duel graphics stuff like Crossfire and SLI they only seem to work for certain games. I would like USB 3.0. I would like PCI-e X16 and I don't really know anything else.

Q10. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?

A10. Nope

Q11. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?

A11. This week probably

CPU wise I was thinking AMD phenom II X4 965 Black Edition it's old but it seems good for £80 so recommendations for something better for similar price would be good or maybe Intel Core i3 3220. GPU wise I was looking at something round AMD Radeon HD 7850 again some equivalent suggestions would be cool.

Nothing is set in stone so any suggestions or builds are appreciated thanks.

[Vancha]

£500 including monitor is going to be pretty tight. What rig do you have now? I'll go ahead and assuming you're reusing the mouse and KB...

[MightyJellyFish]

I'm giving the computer I'm using to my brother so I'm not reusing parts but yeah i do have a mouse and keyboard.

Your right I can get under £500 without the monitor I think.
How does this sound so far?

CPU: i3 ivybridge 3220 - £90
Mobo: AsRock H77 Pro4/MVP - £67
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 7850 Double Dissipation Core Edition (1GB) - £130
RAM: Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 - £34
PSU: 600W Corsair CX600 V2 12cmi - £57
HDD: Seagate 500GB 3.5 inch 7200rpm 16MB Cache SATA 3 6MB/S - £45

[Vancha]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor (£81.65 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£64.58 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: 2x4GB DDR3 RAM (£28.00 @ MemoryC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.20 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card (£130.54 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£35.00 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £379.97
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-16 15:05 GMT+0000)

You don't necessarily need to go lower on the RAM, but the option's there. Any of the sub-£30 stuff would probably do you fine.

I hear the XFX 7850 is surprisingly good. I've usually avoided XFX GPUs due to suspiciously low prices, but apparently the cooler is good and very quiet.

A 550w PSU is enough to run two 7850s, so 600w for one is too too much.

What kind of case do you like? Flashy or dignified?

[MightyJellyFish]

Cool thanks those pieces look good.

I was wary of XFX as well but I did a lot of comparing, looking at reviews and it seems good to me.

I'm going to stick with the 8GB of RAM but definitely get a smaller PSU .

I think I prefer the more dignified cases. Again I haven't the faintest idea what sort of case to get but anything over £50 seems a bit excessive.

With the price you suggested I could probably squeeze in a monitor aswell, what do you think?

[Vancha]

Over £50 isn't excessive, but considering the budget it's probably a good limit.

Fractal Design Core 1000 mATX case - £29

I honestly wouldn't go quite this low unless you really want to scrape by with the bare minimum. The (optional) rear fan isn't even 120mm. This is however likely to be the best-built case at this price (might be worth moving the fan from the front to the side panel).

Fractal Design Core 3000 ATX case - £45

The Core 1000's bigger brother - way better equipped. Arguably the best deal at this price. Cable management, removable drive-bays, three fans included (two of which are 140mm). The only problem? USB 2.0. Not a big deal unless you're transferring large files a lot?

Antec One - £45

Good alternative. 2x120mm fans and cable management holes, plus USB 3.0. Not quite as flexible though.

Corsair 200R - £50
Similar to the Antec One (2x120mm, USB 3.0 and cable management), but with the Core 3000's flexibility.

Silverstone PS07B - £55

A bit of a wild card. An inverted mATX case with the usual cable management, 2x120mm fans and USB 3.0. This'll should be a step above the other cases and it has the benefit of being small. On the downside, it's small, so it'll be harder to build in. You'll also be restricted to mATX/ITX builds in future, but I figured I'd put it forward since it's an interesting case at a good price.

Honestly, you'd probably be content with any of these, with the exception of the Core 1000. If you aren't really sure which to go with, just pick whichever you like the look of best.

Edit: I totally ignored the monitor question. With the case and the optical drive (about £12), I don't think you have enough to squeeze a monitor in there except possibly for the cheapest 1360x768 monitor going.

[MightyJellyFish]

I like the corsair the most out of those cases. It's just the kind of thing I was looking for. The USB 3.0 will definitely come in handy

Haha yeah forget the monitor. I'll sort that out another time.

I'm going to order parts tomorrow I think.

Thanks Vancha you've been a massive help.

Tim.

[Vancha]

Any time. All I'll say of the Corsair is that I have no idea how loud the fans are. Corsair have had some terrible ones in the past, but they've been doing much better recently and being that the 200R is new, hopefully that's included.